


i need you

by tvheads



Category: AI: The Somnium Files (Video Game)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Spoilers, like MAJOR SPOILERS guys, theoretically hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25030411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvheads/pseuds/tvheads
Summary: a series of small fics set in various timelines about date and mizuki’s relationship. i care them and so should you.
Relationships: Date Kaname & Okiura Mizuki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	1. remAInd

**Author's Note:**

> ill update this whenever i feel like crying over them ^_^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> retelling ending of mizuki route (specifically that last psync...)
> 
> and don’t touch me @ the stupid title

Boss is gone, and Mizuki’s been doing her best to keep talking to Date, but…

She just can’t. She can’t keep her voice calm and her eyes dry and she can’t stop gripping the edges of her seat so tightly her knuckles are white.

Mom is dead. Daddy is dead. Iris and Ota are hospitalized, too, and even though they’ll both live (they have to!) Mizuki can’t completely be rid of that tiny, persistent fear that they _won’t_. And Date lies here, so so still with only the beeping on the monitors and the slight rise and fall of his chest reminding her he’s alive. It feels like it would be too easy for him to leave her, too. 

Like Mom and Daddy.

Like Mom and Daddy…?

Date’s boss comes in, then, and sees Mizuki sullenly holding Date’s still hand. She smiles gently at her, but Mizuki doesn’t look up. She fixes her gaze on the corner of the room and pretends she isn’t crying.

Boss tucks a bit of her hair behind her ear and begins to speak. Softly, gently. She tells Mizuki that maybe Date can be saved, that maybe Mizuki can psync with him. That Mizuki is… compatible with him. A lot of it she still isn’t sure she understands, but she knows what Boss means.

An hour or two later Mizuki is standing in a black-and-white version of what appears to be her—their apartment, their home. It’s been four years, hasn’t it, since Date took her in. She recalls that Daddy had driven her there, but whether the ride was silent and tense, or full of her childish questions and complaints and Daddy’s quiet explanations, Mizuki honestly can’t remember. Before she lived with Date, most memories held pain and arguing. With Date, she wasn’t slapped or yelled at, and while he probably wasn’t with her as much as he should be, he still at least made an effort to eat with her.

Actually, a bowl of his stew lies on the table. Through the windows light shines like a spotlight over it, bringing warm color to a flash of the rug and that awful-looking stew. Mizuki walks over and takes the spoon. She tastes it… then as she gets up, a strong sense of nostalgia warming her up, Mizuki sees Date.

Except he’s all black-and-white too, and doesn’t even spare her a glance as she calls for him. Mizuki follows the direction of his gaze, and sees herself. She’s younger and monochromatic, but that’s definitely Mizuki Okiura.

Psyncing is weird, Mizuki concludes.

Date’s watching this other her carefully. “Eat it while it’s hot,” he urges, gently. When the other Mizuki doesn’t respond, he continues to chatter in that obnoxious Date way of his until—the other Mizuki’s stomach grumbles. Loudly.

Tentatively she leans forward and picks up the spoon. She wordlessly eats, and Date smiles. It’s a warm, genuine smile that reaches his eyes, and Mizuki feels the urge to smile like that, too. He’s happy she’s eating…

Date and the other Mizuki fade away. The Mizuki of the now feels… weird. Nostalgic. Warm. She pushes those feelings _down_ , they’re not gonna bring Date back, but… it feels nice.

Mizuki makes her way through the apartment, re-enacting scenes of the past. Date worried about her, with school, with her parents. Date gave her the bed. Date gave her Adorabbit… 

The Ikume Shrine charm…

_I wish that Mizuki grows up happy and healthy._

It’s dark now, but Mizuki doesn’t feel especially scared. Light shines down on a path, one end leading towards Date, and the other… oh.

Mom and Daddy…

Date was kind of like a parent to her, she realizes then. Perhaps she already knew that, so many people around her had commented on it. Date would even say she made him look like a single dad (which apparently made him more attractive to girls??). Mizuki supposes she’d thought about that, too, but now…

It’s horrible to realize how… parental Date could be, now that he feels so close to following Mom and Daddy out death’s door. 

She doesn’t look at them. She goes straight to Date. He saved her life, she will save his. She _will._


	2. hAIr

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no particular route, all pre-canon

When she first moved in with him, her hair was short. Mom had long given up on trying to tame it and taken her to get a haircut. Mizuki liked having her hair long, but shorter hair meant Mom wouldn’t yell at her to _sit still_ and _stop fidgeting_ so she could at _least_ look _presentable_. So maybe it wasn’t such a terrible loss.

Date didn’t really care about what she did with her hair, though. He didn’t care about how “presentable” she looked. All that really mattered was that she was clean and clothed, and the most he’d tell her to do was brush her teeth.

Over time, Mizuki’s hair grew out longer and longer. Date asked her a few times if she wanted a haircut, and maybe she’d go to get it trimmed and cleaned up a bit, but mostly she was happy to have longer hair again.

Once, she went over to the Sagans’ house to just hang out. Somehow, Iris convinced her to let her do her hair, and Mizuki had gone home rather happily with her hair in a long braid.

She’d opened the door to find Date in the kitchen, keeping an eye on a pot of boiling water. He perked up and greeted her when she entered, to which she just stuck out her tongue.

“Oh, hey, nice hairdo,” Date commented with a stupid grin. “You know you could’ve just asked me if you wanted your hair up?”

Mizuki glared at him, but he carried on, gesturing to his weird bun. “I can do my own hair. Why not yours?”

“I didn’t ask for your commentary,” Mizuki muttered.

That Saturday, though, Mizuki did shuffle over to where Date lay on his sofa-bed with a magazine. He sat up and swung his legs off the couch, arranging himself into a comfortable position before patting the space next to him. Mizuki stood there awkwardly for a bit before eventually sitting herself down.

“Okay, I don’t know if I can do a braid like the other day, but I can still put your hair up.”

“Stupid Date… you led me on!” Mizuki grumbled, fidgeting with her hands. He was _right behind her_. “But whatever. Do what you want, just—don’t be a creep!”

Date wasn’t as harsh as Mom. He seemed to make an effort to be gentle even as he pulled and yanked on her hair. Though maybe that was because Mizuki would yell (at him, mind you!) every time he pulled too hard.

Sitting in his lap with his fingers working her hair felt kinda nice, though.

As time went on Mizuki found herself preferring to wear her hair in a ponytail. Unfortunately Date wasn’t always available to help her out, so one day he decided to teach her. He talked her through the steps, snarking at her all the while but still gently correcting her mistakes. 

Once her hair was taken care of, Date went to go back to his business, but Mizuki cleared her throat and rather aggressively patted the sofa next to her. She (very roughly) took his hair out from his bun and started to put it up. 

“The apprentice has become the master,” Date wisecracked. He immediately regretted it from the sudden sharp pull on his new ponytail.

“Your hair’s long, it makes you look like a girl,” Mizuki told him, very matter-of-fact.

“A very pretty girl,” he corrected, and smiled.


	3. hAIr pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> post-annihilation route!! major spoilers!!

Date’s old coats don’t quite fit right anymore, but he wears them anyway, just so they can maintain some vague sense of normalcy. They’re a little comforting to Mizuki, since they hide some of the truths of his body. She can’t see the curves where there weren’t any before, and when he puts his hair up in a messy half-bun like before and doesn’t speak, when he’s looking at a case file or cooking dinner, Mizuki can almost pretend that nothing happened. Almost.

When she hugs him, it’s soothing anyway. Those clothes feel like him still, and they used to smell like him too. Mizuki’s pretty sure the laundry detergent never changed, but Date must have done _something_ , because that old man smell of his is… gone. It’s weird to miss it.

She thinks about this as too-slender fingers comb through her hair. He chuckles at her; she’d asked him to do her hair. “Let’s see if you forgot anything in the body swap,” she’d said to him, but Date could guess that Mizuki just wanted to be held. She’d never actually sat on his lap when he did her hair, just sitting between his legs, but now it’s a little hard to not keep his legs around her. 

He didn’t realize that Saito was that much bigger than Boss, that Mizuki would have to actually be on his lap for this. 

Date does not like thinking about the bodies, and how Boss is dead, and that the body he thought was his was actually the body of a sociopathic murderer. He does not like thinking about where his own body is.

He’d like to comfort Mizuki—she’s a _child_ who saw her parents’ corpses and her best friend’s livestreamed murder—but frankly he doesn’t know how to comfort himself. If Aiba were here, maybe she’d know, but Date refuses to get a surgery to allow Aiba inside of this new head, because it’s Boss’s. Maybe one day he’ll be able to accept it all, but for now, Aiba sleeps in her charger port on the kitchen counter. 

Date’s been done with Mizuki’s ponytail for a while, but he’s let himself play with her hair anyway. It’s relaxing for him, and judging by the way she’s been leaning back into him, for her too.

“Hey, Mizuki?” he murmurs.

“Mm?” She sounds tired. _Me too, kid._

“I’m gonna hug you. Is that cool?”

She turns around and wraps her arms around him, tightly wedging herself between his arms. It’s startling at first, but Date quickly reciprocates, and begins to pet her hair.

Maybe she falls asleep, and maybe he tucks her in bed, too. 

_Man_ , Date thinks to himself. _We need a damn therapist._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i want 2 write fluff i swear


	4. sAIto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in the body of shoko nadami, the killer ponders his future victims.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I WARNED U ABOUT SPOILERS BRO!! I TOLD U DAWG!!
> 
> quick content warning for a nasty nasty man manipulating an abused 11 year old

His plans are still in the early stages, it’s only been a month or so since he started spying on “Kaname Date”, but Saito’s already found an especially prominent weak spot.

The little girl Mizuki Okiura is the daughter of Shoko Nadami—that’s the name of the body he’s in right now. Apparently, Shoko hit her daughter a lot, and apparently that’s more or less why Date is taking care of the kid. Renju is too busy, it seems. Ah, what’s another shitty father?

Saito knows Date’s job keeps him away from the house plenty too, though, but the man in HIS BODY still smiles almost proudly at the thought of the little girl. Shoko says something nasty about whatever Mizuki’s accomplished, and Date scowls back at Saito, which is a lot more fitting for his handsome face than that stupid  _ smile _ .

Saito takes that accomplishment of Mizuki’s home, and he calls Mizuki with her mother’s phone and praises her score on the math test with her mother’s voice, and Mizuki’s practically already wrapped around his finger.

So he can use her, as Shoko. He can take this good little girl, and use her to get back at that  _ fool _ smiling in HIS BODY.

Except, hm… 

If he wants the trail of bodies to lead Date right to him, Saito realizes he can’t have Mizuki be one of them. She’s too close, Date wouldn’t be allowed to investigate into her murder. Besides, based on the way the man in HIS BODY has been acting, maybe Date would end up just too damn  _ “distraught” _ to do his job. It would be no real fun breaking him all at once like that, using his surrogate daughter’s corpse. 

Maybe if he breaks the daughter first, then. After all, her beloved  _ Daddy _ is such good friends with Date…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was wondering “if saito wants to punish date why didnt he ever go directly for mizuki?” so i wrote this for anyone else who wonders that.. tl;dr if mizuki was murdered itd just straight up break date and he wouldn’t be able to investigate further and find saito


	5. AIdentity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an actual silly chapter this time! short, but still. post-resolution route 🤭

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i do think i’m hilarious, thanks for asking!

Mizuki thought she’d been all aware of everything that would come with being officially adopted by Kaname Date, but apparently she miscalculated.

“Hey, Date!”

She whips around at lightning speed, ready to demand to know what the  _ hell _ that pervy old man was doing at her school, only to realize—

It’s just her classmate Tanaka.

Mizuki Date feels like kind of an idiot.

On the other side of town, Kaname Date smiles goofily as he suddenly recalls the face Mizuki made as she signed her new name. She’d run over, given him a tight, quick hug, and when he went “aw, you do love me!” she’d snapped back instantly with “no duh!”

The criminal he’s in the middle of interrogating cocks her head towards Boss, who just shrugs and grins.


	6. uncertAInty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> rewrite of part of iris/resolution route so date stays with mizuki overnight and helps her heal.... im really glad for hitomi and i think its wonderfully sweet but also TAKE CARE OF UR DAUGHTER DATEEE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the complete lack of substance in last chapter.. this ones a lot longer i think
> 
> edit: its actually over 1k words holy cow

_“I’m going to die.”_ Iris’s words ring in his head as Date drives. Finding Hitomi and bringing her home to keep watch over Iris might help prevent the worst… god, what was so important that Hitomi left her vulnerable teen daughter home alone?

 _Date,_ Aiba says. _What about your own vulnerable dau—_

 _Mizuki is not my daughter_ , Date interrupts pointedly. He hears Aiba make a noise not dissimilar to a barking laugh. _She’s Renju’s daughter. Not mine._

 _You should still check on her,_ Aiba tells him. _Her mother is dead… this can’t be easy for Mizuki. She depends on you, remember. Take care of her._

The worry over Iris dissipates almost instantaneously, being replaced by crushing guilt over not being able to heal Mizuki. Date flinches, but Aiba keeps the car going straight. _Shit_ , he thinks. _I’m a horrible guardian._

_Maybe you are,_ Aiba says dryly as Date changes course and heads to the hospital.

Apparently someone took Mizuki home. A kind-looking woman who the kid seemed to know, according to the nurse, but that was not especially reassuring for Date. Mizuki probably knew lots of people through Lemniscate, and Date knew absolutely none of them. Date did however know plenty of nasty criminals came off as perfectly nice people. 

_Hm,_ says Aiba. _Mizuki’s phone seems to be at home._

…time to go.

Hitomi Sagan’s gentle and warm and _very_ pretty face greeted him, and Date did a double-take. 

“Oh!” she exclaims, apparently just as surprised as him. She sits on the couch with an arm—her left—around Mizuki. Mizuki glances up at him, opens her mouth, but closes it quickly. 

“I’m sorry for coming in without your permission, Mr. Date,” Hitomi says. 

“It’s fine,” Date stammers. “I just—don’t understand why you’re here?”

“Mizuki’s one of my students,” Hitomi explains. “Earlier, she messaged me on NILE, asking for help. I came to the hospital, and she wrote a note and asked to come here. ‘Home.’ Not Renju’s house, here.” She pauses. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t aware you were her roommate, Date. I knew of her, um, unusual circumstances but I was under the impression she was just living with a relative.”

“You’re her teacher?” Date asks. Hitomi nods and he goes on, glancing at Mizuki, who still sits silently. “How is she at school?”

“Oh, she’s a good girl. She’s quiet, and kind; she always helps without me asking.” Date’s eyebrows lift at this, and the sight is apparently funny enough to make Hitomi laugh. She tells him a few stories about what Mizuki’s done at school, and assures him there’s nothing really to worry about.

The anecdotes don’t worry him, but Iris flashes in his mind again and _does_ worry him. He looks back at Mizuki, who tries to make a face at him, but really doesn’t seem all that into it. (It breaks his heart just a little.) 

“Ah, um, Miss Hitomi,” Date begins, floundering as he desperately tries to find a way to politely beg a woman to get back home so she can make sure her daughter doesn’t get stabbed to death and then frozen solid. God, maybe he shouldn’t have left Iris in the first place—

 _Date. Focus._ Aiba often acts as a grounding presence, and while Date would never willingly tell her this, he is grateful for it.

 _Yeah, thanks._ “I think it would be best if you went home,” he says slowly, picking his words deliberately. “There was just a pretty damn violent crime the other day, and I know I would want to make sure my, uh, kid’s safe.” _Do not look at Mizuki. Do NOT look at Mizuki._ He looks at Mizuki. “I can keep an eye on her from here.”

“Ah, you’re right,” Hitomi says, definitely looking disturbed. “Would you be alright if I leave, Mizuki?”

Mizuki stares at Date, then nods tentatively at her teacher.

Hitomi gives her a warm smile and strokes her hair. “I’ll send you a NILE message tomorrow morning, does that sound good?

Another nod, and with that, Hitomi stands up. “Goodbye, Mizuki. Be good for me, won’t you?” The kid gives her a small smile. “Oh, good girl.” She pauses. “Actually, can you come out with me, Mr. Date?”

Date’s trying to be hospitable and polite, and sees no strong reason to refuse, so he follows her into the hallway, where she reaches for her shoes, then stops to look up at him.

“Date,” Hitomi says quietly. “I’m sure you’re a very busy man, but I think you should stay with her. I think Mizuki needs to be with someone right now, and I think it would be good for her if it was you.”

 _I agree._ Aiba adds. _She needs you right now, Date._

 _I know._ Date takes a deep breath. “I know,” he admits out loud. 

“You do?” Hitomi’s surprise is evident, and Date’s honestly not sure if he should be offended or not. “I—I’m very glad for that. Please, take care of her. Hold her.”

 _Hold her._ Easier said than done, hah.

Date spends several minutes after saying goodbye to Hitomi as silent as Mizuki as he tries to figure out how to approach her. And _hold her._

“Hey, kid,” Date eventually says. Awkwardly, but it’s not like either of them are any good with the whole _feelings_ business. 

Mizuki watches him carefully, her fingers flexing. She nods in acknowledgment.

He sits down next to her, and slowly puts an arm around her. Slowly he pulls her closer to his side. She leans into it.

“It’ll be okay, Mizuki. I’ll stay with you,” he murmurs, putting his other arm around her. “I’ll stay.”

He’s not very good at holding her, he thinks, but Mizuki seems to feel differently, maybe, because at some point her walls break. She clutches him, and cries and sobs and there’s going to be stains but he has another jacket right there, it’ll be fine. “It’ll be fine,” he promises her, and holds her through it. 

At dawn, the light falls on her tearstained yet peaceful face. Mizuki shifts, and wakes up, and looks at Date, and—

“Date,” she croaks. “Date, wake up, I’m sorry, I…” 

He does wake up, and he looks down at her with joy in his eyes. Then, it’s confusion and worry as tears begin to fill Mizuki’s own eyes, and she hugs him tightly once more.

“I-I _killed_ her, Date!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no you didnt baby... its not your fault...
> 
> im not very good at writing this stuff >.< but i think im happy with how it turned out.. would like to have them cuddle more kinda but dont know how to make it Not Weird


End file.
